Missing Moments

Finn Bonds With Amy

Quick note about this chapter: I rewrote the way Finn and Amy bond in episode 6 because the tea party scene gives me too much secondhand embarrassment and I don't agree with the decision to have them bond over tea parties when their love for Piper is literally the one thing they have most in common. Everything else about the episode (Clude, male soloist auditions, Hummer's fight) happened the same way. I just changed the scenes in The Next Steep.

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7x06

Things had been a little strained between Finn and Amy ever since her return to A-Troupe, to put it lightly. If Amy wanted to be upset with him for spilling tea all over her in The Next Steep, he could accept that. (That had not been his finest moment...)

But what Finn wouldn't accept was Amy acting like he had no right to be Piper's friend, not when she had been the one who abandoned Piper to join another studio. He hadn't hesitated to call Amy out on her attitude when the opportunity arose, and he had been prepared to accept that they were never going to be friends after that.

So no one was more surprised than Finn when Amy apologized for abandoning Piper and not giving him a chance.

Ever since that afternoon, Finn and Amy weren't exactly friends, but they didn't exactly dislike each other either. It was important to Piper that they get along, so they were trying to put their differences aside and make an effort with each other.

That said, when Piper had to cancel on their plans to hang out in The Next Steep, leaving Finn and Amy alone for the entire afternoon, Finn couldn't exactly say he was thrilled about it.

But there had to be worse ways to spend his afternoon than getting tea with Amy.

Or at least, that's what he kept telling himself until the two of them found themselves sitting in a stony silence in the otherwise bustling café.

At one point in time, he and Amy could have easily found something to talk about, but that was before she had gone to AcroNation. Before she had abandoned Piper and A-Troupe. Now, well... Now it was just awkward, and Finn wondered if they should just call it a day, tell Piper they tried, and head home early.

As Finn drained the last of his Chai tea, Amy twirled her spoon around her own tea, presumably mixing sugar and cream into it. The only thing was- she had been mixing them in for several minutes.

She must have finally deemed her tea drinkable because she finally stopped twirling her spoon around. Instead of setting it on the table, however, she began tapping it repeatedly against the side of the mug. Finn grit his teeth at the sound, glancing over as the tapping continued.

Was she trying to annoy him?

With a sigh, she finally stopped, setting her spoon aside and lifting her gaze to meet his own. Finn immediately averted his gaze. The last thing he needed was Amy thinking he'd been staring at her like some kind of lovesick fool. As if.

"So..." Amy spoke first, shaking her head slowly as if desperately willing a conversation topic to come to her.

"So..." Finn repeated, trailing off as well. Conversation was never usually this difficult for him. He loved talking to people and making new friends.

Apparently, his resentment towards Amy ran a little deeper than he'd thought.

"Um... Do you have any pets?" Amy finally asked. It was blatant small talk, but it was better than sitting in silence.

"Nope. No pets." He paused then asked, "Do you?"

"No," she muttered, tilting her head to the side and looking away again. She was quiet for a moment then, almost reluctantly, added, "My mom doesn't like animals, so..."